Ridding hotel rooms, or any other unused room, of bed bugs is a difficult project. The two main related problems are that bed bugs often tend to remain in established harbourages until a host is present and bed bugs are becoming resistant to the pesticides currently on label for bed bugs. The result is the bugs, in an unused room, can remain hidden in the established harbourages for months without moving rendering any pesticide treatment ineffective. And given the increased levels of pesticide resistance the bugs may survive single crossings of even fresh residual layers. Even if the pesticide exposure is sufficient to be lethal the bug may survive long enough to feed on a newly introduced host. In a hotel setting that is a disaster.
The current standard treatment plans for bed bugs in hotel settings is to use encasements on the mattress and box spring preventatively which removes most of the harbourage area from the bed. The bugs will then harbour off the bed in baseboards, headboards, surrounding furniture, and other unknown areas which are more difficult to inspect or treat. The result is the infestations become larger and more diffused before they are noticed making the infestation more difficult to treat. Furthermore the room is left empty for 3 weeks after chemical treatment which will result in a certain percentage of bugs looking for a blood meal in neighbouring rooms and a larger percentage remaining in the harbourages waiting for a new host. Both scenarios are a disaster.
It would be preferable to encourage bed bugs to harbour in areas that are easily inspected for bed bugs and easily treated when they are noticed. Areas of the hotel room that are more difficult to address such as baseboards and electrical plugs should be sealed preventatively to discourage bed bug harbourage. If all or most of the bugs could be contained within a bed frame supporting a mattress thereon, then the inspection and treatment process could be greatly enhanced which, in turn, would create better treatment outcomes. Easy inspections allow the inspections to take place more frequently and economically which, in turn, reduces the risk of renting infested rooms and potential law suits.
A further use would be in dormitories, homeless shelters, and other areas with high risk clients.